Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

The Gunpowder Plot and Planned Parenthood

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Discovery of the Plot (Henry Perronet Briggs)
Discovery of the Plot (Henry Perronet Briggs)

On November 5, 1604, a group of English Catholic conspirators led by a man named Robert Catesby attempted a terrorist attack on the English parliament. The plan was to detonate a thirty-six barrel cache of gunpowder that had been hidden in an undercroft (basement room) beneath the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster.

The explosion was to be timed to the State Opening of Parliament, a commencement of parliament sessions featuring a speech from the monarch—then King James I of England (who was also James IV of Scotland). If successful, the plot very likely would have leveled the building, killed the king, and killed or injured the countless members of the House of Lords and House of Commons who were gathered there.

In the chaos that would follow, the conspirators planned to stage a full-fledged revolt centered in the English Midlands and then install Princess Elizabeth—the nine year old daughter of King James—as a puppet queen who would be raised Catholic and then later married to a Catholic husband (apparently whether she liked it or not).

Needless to say, the plot failed. An anonymous letter revealing its details had been sent to authorities, and so they searched the building around midnight the night before the State Opening. There, they found Guy Fawkes—one of the conspirators—guarding the cache of gunpowder. Fawkes was the one who would be responsible for lighting the fuse at the proper time before escaping.

The plot—known as the Gunpowder Plot, Gunpowder Treason Plot, or Jesuit Treason—resulted in a major operation to find and either capture or kill the conspirators. Several were indeed killed during the hunt, including mastermind Catesby. Eight surviving conspirators, including Fawkes, were tried, convicted, and then put to death. The British continue to celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot on November 5 each year, lighting bonfires, burning effigies of Guy Fawkes (and, in earlier years, the pope), and setting off fireworks. They call it Guy Fawkes Day or Bonfire Night, and it’s the rough equivalent of our Independence Day celebrations here in the United States.

Read more . . .

Browser Support Change: Dropping IE

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Off on a Tangent has long supported the most recent versions of the major desktop and mobile web browsers. By policy, this support extends to the most recent two versions of desktop browsers, and the most recent one version of tablet and mobile browsers.

With the launch of Microsoft Windows 10 on the desktop in July, I initiated support for Microsoft Edge, the new default browser for Windows. For simplicity’s sake, I am treating Edge as a new version of the now-discontinued Internet Explorer (IE) browser. So, since July, I have officially supported IE 11 and the initial version of Edge as the most recent two Microsoft browsers on the desktop. On mobile, I supported IE Mobile on Windows Phone 8.1 as the single most recent mobile version.

In the last week or so, something momentous happened. Microsoft released a major update of Windows 10 on November 12, paired with an updated version of Edge. Under the ‘last two versions’ rule, I then dropped IE 11 support. And then Microsoft released Windows 10 Mobile on November 20, paired with its new Edge mobile browser. Under the ‘last one version’ rule for mobile devices, I dropped support for Windows Phone 8.1’s IE.

In other words, Off on a Tangent, for the first time in its history, does not officially support any version of Microsoft Internet Explorer. And although IE 9, 10, and 11 weren’t too bad, I still hold enough web-developer hatred for earlier versions—especially 6—that I’ll still say: GOOD RIDDANCE.

This does not mean it will stop working . . . it only means that I won’t actively test the site in IE or spend much time (if any) fixing bugs that only affect IE users. If you’re still using IE, I recommend that you switch to something else.

Wanted: My Old ‘Honcho’ Pickup

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Turning Sixteen

My 16th Birthday (by Melinda Bradford)
My 16th Birthday (by Melinda Bradford)

Because of my late-October birthday and the oddities of public school cut-off dates, I was always among the youngest students in my classes. I took driver’s education when I was in tenth grade, as did all of my peers. During the summer between tenth and eleventh I took my behind-the-wheel training, passed the written and behind-the-wheel tests, and received a temporary license . . . that I couldn’t actually use until my birthday several months later. I had all of the requisite training and skills required by the Commonwealth of Virginia to operate a motor vehicle, but I was still fifteen.

Some kids’ parents—especially up here on affluent northern Virginia—buy them brand new BMWs or Lexuses or fast little sports cars when they get their licenses. These cost a fortune to insure, and then the rates skyrocket when those kids immediately crash their fancy new cars into something. Other parents make a somewhat more prudent choice, buying Toyotas and Hyundais for their kids . . . which they also promptly crash. But down in little ol’ Bedford, Virginia, where I lived at the time, most parents made a more prudent choice (whether out of smarts or financial necessity) . . . most of my peers got cheap-ish used cars if they got anything. And it really is best to let new drivers start off with a piece of junk that won’t cost much to insure and won’t be any great loss if it gets in an accident.

In my case, as I approached my sixteenth birthday, my Uncle Scott made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. He was getting a new vehicle for himself, and would no longer need his 1978 Jeep J-10 ‘Honcho’ pickup. The truck was several years older than I was, got twelve miles-per-gallon on a good day, and didn’t have modern amenities like air conditioning or fuel-injection. And on top of that, it had undergone some . . . unusual modifications. It had shag carpeting on the interior of the doors. It had power-windows taken from an Oldsmobile or Buick or something, complete with a four-switch panel (for the truck’s two windows; the other two switches did nothing). And those windows would slam open with force and only inch their way toward closing.

But it ran. It would get me from point-A to point-B. And it resolved the somewhat open-question of whether I would get a car of my own at all. We got the truck, and on the day I turned sixteen I drove it to school while my mom dutifully took photos of me leaving the driveway. Earning the privilege of driving is one of the most important rites of passage for a teen, and I had achieved it . . . in a twenty year old Jeep pickup.

Read more . . .

Endorsement Statistics, 2004-2015

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As I close out the 2015 election season (and begin tentatively looking toward 2016), I realize that I neglected to complete my bi-annual statistical review of my past endorsements. Yes, it’s probably as boring as it sounds . . . I’m just that kind of nerd.

I have always considered myself to be a political independent. I certainly tilt toward the Republican side of the spectrum, with a healthy dose of ‘small-l’ libertarianism thrown in, but I rarely endorse or vote for a straight party-line ticket. I always try to make a serious, dispassionate evaluation of every candidate and issue before me, and then endorse and cast my own ballot for the ones that I believe are the best available options.

I keep a running spreadsheet where I track all of my annual endorsements and the outcomes of each race. This allows me to look back at patterns in the party affiliation of the candidates I endorse, see how often the voters agree with my choices (and how often they don’t), and really visualize how my political beliefs go into practice at the ballot box. The last time I did this, I reviewed my endorsements from 2004 to 2012. This time, I’m including all races in-which I’ve been eligible to vote from 2004 through to the 2015 ballot I cast earlier this week.

Read more . . .

Election 2015 Results and Live Blog (Final)

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Updated
Ballot Races
Virginia Senate, 13th
Dick Black (R):52.30%
Jill McCabe (D):47.55%
Other:0.15%
Virginia House, 87th
John Bell (D):49.88%
Chuong Nguyen (R):47.94%
Brian Suojanen (L):2.09%
Other:0.10%
Loudoun Board (Chairman)
Thomas Bellanca (I):3.01%
Charlie King (R):28.87%
Phyllis Randall (D):37.56%
Scott York (I):30.35%
Other:0.20%
Loudoun Board (Dulles)
Anjan Chimaladinne (D):28.43%
Matt Letourneau (R):71.46%
Other:0.10%
Loudoun Treasurer
Evan Macbeth (D):31.04%
H. Roger Zurn Jr. (R):68.80%
Other:0.16%
Loudoun Sheriff
Brian Allman (D):13.08%
Mike Chapman (R):60.77%
Steve Simpson (I):25.73%
Other:0.42%
Loudoun Com. Attorney
Robert Ohneiser (D):40.46%
James Plowman (R):59.31%
Other:0.23%
Loudoun Court Clerk
Gary Clemens (R):58.89%
Eileen Tagg-Murdock (D):40.91%
Other:0.19%
Loudoun Comm. of Revenue
Bob Wertz Jr. (R):98.62%
Other:1.38%
Loudoun Sch. Board (At-Large)
Beth Huck:55.01%
Stephan Knobloch:44.63%
Other:0.37%
Loudoun Sch. Board (Dulles)
Jeff Morse:69.31%
Kenya Savage:30.51%
Other:0.18%
Loudoun S&W Conservation
John Flannery II:33.83%
Marina Schumacher:36.40%
L. Ali Shahriari:9.60%
James Wylie:19.62%
Other:0.55%
Ballot Issues
Loudoun Safety Bonds
Yes:79.78%
No:20.22%
Loudoun School Bonds
Yes:65.23%
No:34.77%

Read more . . .

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.